Another week and another Jude Bellingham update! The Dortmund star was in scintillating form for the resumption of the Bundesliga last week, scoring a goal and laying on the winner in a 4-3 thriller against Augsburg.
Back in Liverpool, Steven Gerrard was on a charm offensive ahead of the Reds bore draw with Chelsea, offering to, ‘Fly to Dortmund personally, take him out for a nice dinner, and we’ll talk about it!”
On the latest episode of our Journo Insight Show, we asked Neil for his latest thoughts on ‘Operation Bellingham’.
Neil said:
“If you were a City fan and you wanted encouragement – you know where to look. If you’re a Real Madrid fan – you know where to look. If you’re a Liverpool fan, of course, we know where to look. I think the best thing you can say is there’s still a chance, a pretty good chance.
There are a lot of things that are at play – Liverpool in the Champions League? I think there’s a feeling from a lot of people that that isn’t the decisive factor in what he does. There is a longer-term mindset in someone like Bellingham. Liverpool are going to have to make a very, very good pitch. They have got to nail this deal if they’re going to get him. The financial package is obviously going to be huge.
I don’t think that’s beyond the realms for Liverpool, that they can do it, they’ve still got Klopp, and they’ve still got very, very good players. I don’t think he’s made a decision yet. I think it’s promising in the extreme for Liverpool that we don’t hear any stories – it never features a part where it says, ‘Bellingham has got no intention of going to Liverpool.’ Everything suggests Liverpool are still attractive to him.”
Redmen Reacts
As the old saying goes – if you don’t love me when I’m losing away to Nottingham Forest… you don’t deserve me when I’m beating Barcelona 4-0 in the Champions League semi-final! Hopefully, young Jude subscribes to this way of thinking, because Anfield does not look like a destination for one of the best young midfielders in the world at this precise moment in time. Manchester United slipped out of the top four following the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson, but seemed unaffected in the transfer market, splashing out British record fees for the likes of Ángel Di María and Paul Pogba without necessarily being able to guarantee Champions League football. If Liverpool fails to achieve that aim for the first time since 2015/16, it would require some massive assurances behind the scenes to be an attractive proposition for Bellingham. Working with Jürgen Klopp must be an alluring prospect, but one way the 19-year-old will not want to emulate his hero Steven Gerrard is by being the best player in an average Liverpool side.
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